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> looking at their code. I can't imagine many development managers do that. And even if they did, I'm not convinced that many would make a good assessment tha

> looking at their code. I can't imagine many development managers do that. And even if they did, I'm not convinced that many would make a good assessment that way. Most of the managers I've had over my career have been poor coders. I'd hate to have them judging me by their conception of what good code is. EDIT: I guess many people have had better managers than I've had. So my "most" and "many" may be off base.

the-smug-one 3y ago
Counting myself as fortunate that I can git-blame and find my managers' (admittedly often old commit) name in the code base :-).
- swader999 3y ago
  Fair point!
swader999 3y ago
Well do you think someone managing development shouldn't know how to code? How would they hire? I've never worked on teams where dev is larger than six and I've always coded though. Bigger than six is automatically create another team in my books.
- icedchai 3y ago
  Sadly, it's very common. They typically ask one of the more senior engineers to assist with hiring. Earlier in my career, the managers knew how to code. Last 10 years... not so much.
biogene 3y ago
How many managers have you had? Seems like an odd generalization.
hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
> I can't imagine many development managers do that. Wow, just a reminder that everyone's experience is unique and can't always be generalized. My first thought was "I can't imagine a development manager not doing that." Seriously, I feel for you. Essentially all of the engineering managers I've had at one point or another have been coders. Some were well, well out of practice by the time they were my manager, and as I moved up in my career my managers were less interested in the details of my code, but I could always talk with them about highly technical concepts. I really feel bad for folks who think their engineering managers can't judge good code. And as someone who's also been an eng manager, I can't imagine managing devs without having an understanding of good code.
- justin_oaks 3y ago
  I admit it; my experience is my own and I'm happy to find out that other people have had better management than I have. And you're right that it's absurd to try to judge developers without an understanding of good code. I just figured the world is absurd.
- sjjshd2283 3y ago
  [dead]
metadat 3y ago
When I'm managing a dev team, I enjoy reviewing my team's code at least 3/5 of days every week. Otherwise how can I give them sincere feedback and ensure we aren't doing weird stuff?

the-smug-one 3y ago

Counting myself as fortunate that I can git-blame and find my managers' (admittedly often old commit) name in the code base :-).

swader999 3y ago
Fair point!

swader999 3y ago

Well do you think someone managing development shouldn't know how to code? How would they hire? I've never worked on teams where dev is larger than six and I've always coded though. Bigger than six is automatically create another team in my books.

icedchai 3y ago
Sadly, it's very common. They typically ask one of the more senior engineers to assist with hiring. Earlier in my career, the managers knew how to code. Last 10 years... not so much.

biogene 3y ago

How many managers have you had? Seems like an odd generalization.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago

> I can't imagine many development managers do that. Wow, just a reminder that everyone's experience is unique and can't always be generalized. My first thought was "I can't imagine a development manager not doing that." Seriously, I feel for you. Essentially all of the engineering managers I've had at one point or another have been coders. Some were well, well out of practice by the time they were my manager, and as I moved up in my career my managers were less interested in the details of my code, but I could always talk with them about highly technical concepts. I really feel bad for folks who think their engineering managers can't judge good code. And as someone who's also been an eng manager, I can't imagine managing devs without having an understanding of good code.

justin_oaks 3y ago
I admit it; my experience is my own and I'm happy to find out that other people have had better management than I have. And you're right that it's absurd to try to judge developers without an understanding of good code. I just figured the world is absurd.
sjjshd2283 3y ago
[dead]

metadat 3y ago

When I'm managing a dev team, I enjoy reviewing my team's code at least 3/5 of days every week. Otherwise how can I give them sincere feedback and ensure we aren't doing weird stuff?